Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) Plans $0.39 Quarterly Dividend

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 15th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 4th will be paid a dividend of 0.39 per share by the network equipment provider on Wednesday, January 24th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%.

Cisco Systems has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.1% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 12 years. Cisco Systems has a dividend payout ratio of 38.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Cisco Systems to earn $3.73 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 41.8%.

Cisco Systems Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of CSCO stock opened at $53.28 on Thursday. Cisco Systems has a fifty-two week low of $44.30 and a fifty-two week high of $58.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.27 and a current ratio of 1.38. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $53.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.36, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.98.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 15th. The network equipment provider reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.20. Cisco Systems had a net margin of 22.13% and a return on equity of 33.42%. The firm had revenue of $14.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.63 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.77 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Cisco Systems will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Cisco Systems

In other Cisco Systems news, CEO Charles Robbins sold 17,687 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.16, for a total value of $975,614.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 716,191 shares in the company, valued at $39,505,095.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Cisco Systems news, COO Maria Martinez sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.18, for a total transaction of $551,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 399,240 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,030,063.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Charles Robbins sold 17,687 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.16, for a total transaction of $975,614.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 716,191 shares in the company, valued at $39,505,095.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 41,859 shares of company stock worth $2,309,352. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cisco Systems

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CSCO. Fortis Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in Cisco Systems during the first quarter worth approximately $65,000. Tyler Stone Wealth Management acquired a new position in Cisco Systems in the second quarter valued at approximately $156,000. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC purchased a new position in Cisco Systems in the second quarter valued at approximately $163,000. Finally, Milestone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Cisco Systems during the first quarter worth approximately $194,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.21% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on CSCO shares. Rosenblatt Securities cut their price target on Cisco Systems from $59.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Tigress Financial raised their target price on Cisco Systems from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 21st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Cisco Systems from $54.00 to $59.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. Finally, BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Cisco Systems in a research note on Thursday, July 20th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $45.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.18.

Cisco Systems Company Profile

Cisco Systems, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells Internet Protocol based networking and other products related to the communications and information technology industry in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, Japan, and China. The company also offers switching portfolio encompasses campus switching as well as data center switching; enterprise routing portfolio interconnects public and private wireline and mobile networks, delivering highly secure, and reliable connectivity to campus, data center and branch networks; wireless products include wireless access points and controllers; and compute portfolio including the cisco unified computing system, hyperflex, and software management capabilities, which combine computing, networking, and storage infrastructure management and virtualization.